KALAHEO — Jaleen Simmonds calmly dropped two straight foul shots late in the game to pull the Barrow Alaska U16 girls to a 33-32 edge over the efforts of a tenacious Kaulupono Girls team, Tuesday. Papalina’s Tystin Gummerus and Marcus
KALAHEO — Jaleen Simmonds calmly dropped two straight foul shots late in the game to pull the Barrow Alaska U16 girls to a 33-32 edge over the efforts of a tenacious Kaulupono Girls team, Tuesday.
Papalina’s Tystin Gummerus and Marcus Brown each netted 10 points each to lead the Kalaheo blueshirts to a 46-24 showing over the Barrow Alaska U12 boys.
Those were two of the goodwill games arranged by Clyde Vito, site manager for the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center as well as a Papalina coach.
“The teams are heading to Kona where they will be participating in a World Youth Basketball Tournament, Aug. 1 to 5,” said Noe Texeira, a Kaua‘i resident who relocated to Barrow and has been living there for 20 years. “We landed last night in Maui from Anchorage, and this is a side trip for a funeral.”
While here, Vito arranged to have the teams engage in goodwill games to help the Alaska players get used to the Hawai‘i humidity, Sean Andrade, a Papalina coach said.
The teams played another pair of Kaua‘i teams Wednesday afternoon before leaving for Kona today.
After being overwhelmed by Papalina in the opening stanza, Barrow went to work as Travis Adams led the Alaskans with a trey in the second period to open up a
nine-point showing.
Adams finished with another trey in the fourth period to lead the Barrow boys on a nine-point note.
Leroy Long Jr. added a trey in the final period as well, finishing with five points in the goodwill game.
Makana Ahgeak, Kekoa Ahgeak, Robert Kanayuruak and Kevin Goodwin each added a pair for the Barrow boys.
Joining Gummerus and Brown, Kaina Simao added eight points and Kelson Andrade finished with seven points.
“For many of the kids, this is the first time they’re leaving the remote village we live in,” said Barrow coach Roland Hepa, a former Kapa‘a High School player on a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship team. “In fact, this is the first time we’re leaving the state as a team, and we’re looking forward to traveling more.”
Hepa has been living in Barrow for about 17 years, and with his daughter entering her freshman year when school starts, got involved in coaching, Texeira said.
Lynnette Hepa was joined by Nicole Smith in netting 11 points each to lead the Barrow U16 girls win in a game that saw the lead sway back and forth between the Barrow girls and Kaulupono.
Simmonds followed with five points, including the pivotal charity pair. Hillary Lowery added four and Jalene Kurayuruak added a pair.
Cheyanne Duarte paced the Kaulupono effort with 10 points and Kelsey Cadiente finished with eight points.
Texeira, who has a son playing in the high school as well as a son in the U12 team, said Barrow has about 4,500 people living in the most northern point of the United States.
“When we play high school games, we have to leave town, and it can get pretty expensive since the only way out is to fly,” the former Kaua‘i resident said. “We just sent our son to Idaho to play in a tournament there.”
Gas is also higher than the prices reflected on Kaua‘i’s gas pumps, she said. “Gas runs more than $4 a gallon, milk is $12 a gallon, and the soda pop is about $11.99 for a six-pack.”
Texeira describes Barrow as pretty remote with no movie theater, just one big store that sells everything from groceries to hardware.
“It’s just a large flat area, a tundra,” she said. “But at least modern things have caught up. Everyone now has flush toilets.”
